As a company, we try to remain politically neutral, but on the topic of privacy, we simply cannot sit back and watch our rights be dismantled and our online lives sold to the highest bidder.

For our U.S. followers, please contact your Congressional Representative in the remaining hours of the day and urge them to vote NO tomorrow on SJ Res 34, which rolls back the FCC’s rule on securing customer permission before selling their data. It is an affront to our constitutional privacy protections. And because of how it’s been submitted by the senate, once voted in, it is nearly impossible to reverse, should the real impact become transparent to everyone.

Since our business is built upon retaining consumer choice and privacy, this resolution is particularly alarming. We are not opposed to digital advertising or the selling of data. We simply believe that each consumer has the right to determine with whom and for what purpose their online metadata is shared and used.

The right to privacy is FUNDAMENTAL. The ISPs, Phone Companies and big platform companies can make the “it’s only metadata” argument all day long, but this metadata about where we search, and who we text and call, and what sites we visit, is the context that defines the patterns of our lives. That is why it is so valuable to not only advertisers, but also to governments and even to campaigns, where social media data and behavioral algorithms were used in the Brexit initiative and the last U.S. election to hyper-target citizens in a way that is tantamount, in our opinion, to manipulation – far beyond the usual “marketing” influence of most consumer packaged goods companies.

This bill is subject to the Congressional Review Act, which basically means, that it is impossible to reverse, once voted in. Tell Congress to vote NO on Tuesday 9/28/17